1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to information presentation apparatus and presentation information creating apparatus used for support of development and presentation of the presentation software controlled by the time, such as the audiovisual educational software and amusement software.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional information presentation apparatus and presentation information creating apparatus using the time control means were designed to create or present the information by the combination of source information. That is, as the unit for presenting information, an electronic film and its set were used, and a plurality of source information was adhered on the electronic film to create the presentation information, and the time control in presentation was executed keeping pace with the progress of the electronic film. More specifically, for example, when creating an animation having a simulation property such as educational support for dynamics or mathematics, the position of the object as the item to be presented is preliminarily determined by calculation or other means, and video images and others are created depending on the result, and are assembled together. In this case, for example, when creating an animation expressing a collision Of two objects, the collision time of the two objects is first determined, and the positions of the objects changing moment by moment are calculated by using different formulae before and after the collision time, and video images are composed on the basis of the calculation results and are combined. For instance, when creating the presentation information for starting the source image along with the increase of the sound volume level of the source sound, such timing is measured beforehand, and the control information is issued at the specific time matching with the timing. On the other hand, an interactive description for interactive presentation is done by the simple branch on the time axis and the condition branch, and the presentation information is changed over depending on the manipulation. That is, preliminarily assuming interactive manipulations, the presentation information corresponding to each manipulation is created, and merely the presentation information is selected depending on the actual manipulation.
Besides, in the conventional information presentation apparatus having the time control means, as a unit for presenting the information, an electronic film sliced on only one absolute time axis common to all information and a set of films are used, and the information is adhered to the film and presented, and on the time axis, the display time and the delay time are controlled, and the interactive description is often done by the simple branch on the time axis and control branch.
A conventional information presentation apparatus is composed, for example, as shown in FIG. 23. In FIG. 23, numeral 1 denotes an information presentation apparatus, 17 is a timer generating means for generating events at every specific interval, 22 is a data control means for controlling the information data, 5 is a time control means for controlling the, time attribute of the data, 4 is an interpretation execution means for interpreting and executing the processing procedure, 21 is an initial setting execution means for creating application window and the like for presenting the information, 9 is an output control means for controlling the output to the video output device for information presentation, 19 is a space control means for controlling the space attribute of the data, 2 is an interactive processing input means for feeding parameters necessary for interactive processing for information presentation, 6 is an event control means for controlling the events entered from interactive processing input means or timer generating means, 7 is an information presentation execution means for controlling the execution of the entire information presentation apparatus, and 2301 through 2316 are signal lines indicating control signals, commands, data and others, in which the information is presented in the following actions.
To begin with, the initial setting execution means 21 makes an initial setting, and creates an application window. Then the control is transferred to the information presentation execution means 7, and the information presentation execution means 7 sends a control signal 2313 to the data control means 22, urging to show the data to be presented next. The data control means 22 sends control signals 2302, 2304 to the time control means 5 and space control means 19, and obtains the time and space attributes of the data to be presented next. The data control means 22 sends the data to be presented next and its attributes to the information presentation execution means 7. The information presentation execution means 7 transfers them to the output control means 9, and the output control means 9 presents information. Again, the control is returned to the information presentation execution means 7, and the same action is repeated.
In this period, when an event input is entered by the user through the interactive processing input means 2, the event control means 6 receives the event, and transfers a control signal 2312 to the information presentation execution means 7. Upon receiving the control signal 2312, the information presentation execution means 7 requests the execution of a script to the interpretation execution means 4. The interpretation execution means 4 interprets the script, and requests the execution to the timer generating means 17, information presentation execution means 7, or output control means 9 depending on the command.
The information is thus presented, but as for the time and space control of the data, since only absolute time and space control is effected, and since the timer that can be generated by the timer generation means is only one, the expression ability is limited. Meanwhile, the conventional information presentation apparatus was not designed in consideration of the real time processing, and no consideration was given, for example, to the flexible change of order of information presentation and priority rank depending on the drawing speed and drawing quantity of the objects in an animation, specification of the processing unit of each object, and adjustment of timer interrupt interval for controlling the timing of drawing. Accordingly, if a gap is caused between the information presentation speed specified by the user and the information presentation speed actually executed by the apparatus, any mechanism for correcting or revising it is not provided. The end user cannot easily define a new class, a new object attribute, or a class hierarchical relation. In the existing information presentation apparatus, yet, there is no mechanism for efficiently storing and controlling the multimedia information of text, graphics, image, video and sound.
In the conventional information presentation apparatus and presentation information creating apparatus, since the source information is adhered on an electronic film, and the presentation information is created or presented, it is necessary to directly specify the source information and mutual relation of the presentation objects, and it is difficult to present by combining plural pieces of source information possessing complicated mutual relations.
In addition, the time control flows sequentially along the progress of the film, and the interactive operation is realized by changing over the presentation information depending on the branch, and hence it is not possible to present the information by allowing the object of presentation to behave freely on the time space depending on the interactive manipulation, for example.
Hitherto, either the interactive software like hypertext without considering the time axis control, or the video editing type software along the absolute time like a CM film was used. It was, therefore, difficult to develop more than the simple information presentation of changing over several predetermined patterns by dialog with the viewer. It was also difficult to develop a software for expressing the mutually related information, that is, describing information on relative time space.
In such constitution, since the information is controlled in the unit of an electronic film, it is difficult to describe the relative change in time and space of plural pieces of information behaving with mutual relationship, and since the control is not effected in the unit of each information, it is difficult to describe the mutual action between pieces of information, and the time control flows sequentially along with the progress of the electronic film, which makes it extremely difficult to describe the free behavior of the interactive information on time and space.
Incidentally, since the scenario of presentation software is composed on the basis of an electronic film model, the content of the presentation cannot surpass the conventional film.
In addition, since the real time processing is not taken into consideration, there is no provision for flexible change of sequence of information presentation or priority rank depending on the drawing speed and drawing quantity of objects in, for example, an animation, and no adjustment to specification of processing unit of each object, and timer interrupt interval for controlling the timing of drawing. That is, if a gap is caused between the information presentation speed designated by the user and the information presentation speed actually executed by the apparatus, there is no mechanism for correcting or revising it, and there is a limitation for creation and execution of an animation which requires real time processing.
The end user cannot easily define a new class, a new object attribute, or a class hierarchical relation, and there is a limitation from the viewpoint of extendability of the system, and recycling of animation parts once created.